Page 21 of Saint's Sinner

“Snitches get stitches,” Night murmured.

“More like snitches get dead around here, you best remember that kid,” Saint growled, the stern tone in his voice making the words come out harsh and threatening, instantly putting Night on alert again.

“Yes, sir.”

Saint chuckled. “Could get used to hearing that outta you.”

“Funny. Sinn said the same thing.”

“That come out in your rum-soaked conversation too?”

“Among other things.”

“Let’s hear about a few of those other things.”

“He just wanted to know what I was searchin’ for,” Night admitted. “And what I hoped to find when I dropped in at the dungeon. “Guess he heard about how I spend club nights and wondered if a little pain was all I was after. Said if it was, you wouldn’t mind helping me out with that if I was interested. I was. Am. But I’d be down for more. I told him that, too.”

“Yeah, and what did he say?”

“We’ll see,” Night replied with a heavy sigh. “Well, more like we’ll see if you’re still saying that after you’ve had a taste, butthen he was gone and now all I want is for us to find him even if we’ve gotta spend the rest of our days choking on red dust until we get answers.”

“I hear that. You’ll get your chance to find out what he meant. Best case scenario, his people have heard from whoever’s got him, worse case, they’ll join us in tearing the state apart.”

“The one thing he did tell me was that he was on good terms with them despite them being a bit overbearing and hypervigilant when it came to him, which pisses him off to know end since he hates being checked up on,” Night said. “He was a bit salty when describing the way they are with him. Didn’t like it much when I said some of us wished for family like that.”

“One person’s heaven is another’s hell.”

“I guess. The way he talked, it sounded like they were good people. Smothering, but good, or at least as good as outlaws can be I guess.”

“Outlaw is just another giant tag they put on a spectrum of people. You’ll find there are shades of gray, even among the legit. Marks only got a few simple rules, you break one and it’s your ass. Anything else goes.”

“No cops at the door, no lying to the club, and no hurting the innocent,” Night parroted. “As a prospect it had been driven into his head ever since he was given the nod to join them.

“If you’re looking for family that’s gonna give a shit about you, you’ve come to the right place. Just don’t ever betray that.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.”

“I’m gonna get a little shuteye. You’d best do the same,” Saint declared before pulling his skullcap over his eyes and sliding down the tree trunk to sit on the ground in front of it. Long after the man was snoring, Night stared at the stars, hoping he could prove to Saint that he had what it took to be allowedto call these men his brothers, this club his home, and Saint and Sinn his family.

Chapter 9

(Sinn)

Feeding frenzy

Under any other circumstances, the scent of perfectly grilled meat and roasted vegetables would have had Sinn drooling. Unfortunately, these circumstances sucked. Despite the tenderness of the steak in his mouth, and the succulent flavors coating his tongue, Sinn was positively miserable.

“Boy, you better eat up,” his Gramps said. “I have it on good authority that there’s a couple custard cream pies in the fridge waiting on us and you know your mama won’t let us at them until the meal is done.”

“Not hungry.”

“Well, you’re gonna eat that never-the-less. You ain’t wasting a good piece of meat.”

“If you care so much about it, let someone else have it. Better still, give it to one of the dogs. Maybe they’ll be too full to chase me when I get out of here and trust me, Iwillget out of here.”

“And do what!”

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